AFL footballers Shaun and Joe Atley have been working hard on their family farm in Corop
The Atley family have three brothers playing professional football, and the trio have been back on the family farm during shutdown. And they have had no shortage of intense training sessions. SEE THE PICS
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North Melbourne’s Shaun Atley has had no shortage of fierce training partners while in lockdown.
Apart from the Kangaroos’ Arden Street headquarters, the most competitive place Atley could be is at his family’s farm in northern Victoria. Joining him at the Corop residence during the AFL season shutdown are his brothers - Joe, who plays for Port Adelaide, and Essendon VFL-listed Jacob.
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE PICS FROM THE ATLEY’S FARM
“This time of year I never really get back home so to be able to go back and spend time with family is pretty special,” the dashing defender told AAP.
“There’s a footy oval in town, but we’ve got enough space on the farm to be able to do some running sessions.
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“We’ve got a dirt track down the paddock that goes for a couple of kilometres so you can do most of the running there.
“We’ve got a bit of a home gym set-up as well so more than enough for training.”
Helping Kangaroos players put in the hard yards has been coach Rhyce Shaw, who has undertaking the same training program.
While it started off as a laugh seeing Shaw - who is five years retired from the AFL - try and keep up with North’s endurance beasts, the fun quickly ended.
“The first couple of weeks we got eased into the program with pure running but I think because Shawry was doing it he thought it was a bit easy so by the third week we got smashed,” the 198-gamer said.
While uncertainty surrounds the season’s resumption, North entered the competition suspension buoyed by a rousing comeback victory over St Kilda. “All we can do is keep being hopeful (of restarting), but it’s definitely been a bit up and down with the motivation levels just not knowing when we are starting,” Atley, 27, said
Roo backs important mental health message
Gilbert Gardiner
North Melbourne forward Mason Wood picked up the phone and sent a Kangaroos teammate a text message recently after a scheduled team video conference.
This teammate — Player X — would usually be the life of the Zoom party.
But not on the day in question, Player X was there but only because he had to be.
“I didn't feel like he was being as engaged as he had been in the past,” Wood said of the interaction.
“You just think that's different to what I normally perceive them as, somebody that's really engaged and really excited to get into things.”
The icebreaker text sparked a conversation and that ultimately led to some resolution.
Wood has learned a thing or three riding an unforgiving AFL rollercoaster, which has reduced the out-of-contract 26 year-old to 57 games since being drafted in 2012.
It is one reason Wood, who feels lucky to have had “football tragic” father John as a sounding board for “anything and everything”, hopes to pay it forward as an advocate for 100 Words Mate To Mate.
The mental health and suicide prevention group aims to help men open up about their issues — especially now during the isolation and uncertainty around COVID-19 restrictions.
“The biggest thing is getting guys together to chat about what they're going through because as men we … tend to bottle it up: ‘I'm a man, it's my issue and nobody else’s’,” Wood said.
A new initiative, Mate To Mate at 8, calls on men to contact their mates at 8am or 8pm.
“You might be reaching out to somebody that actually really needed that phone call, even though you might not think it's anything (special),” Wood said.
“Especially when we're all (in isolation) and got so much time on our hands, I think it's a great time to start reaching out to people and having that conversation and seeing where that goes.”
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These types of conversations happen almost daily at AFL clubs, which put a power of work and resources into the mental health space, because they need to.
The transition from junior to senior football challenges the mind as much as the body.
“Football can be a really interesting place for somebody that thinks they're in a good head space,” Wood said.
“Realistically, there's more lows than highs, I'm not saying low lows but losses and hard weeks.
“Everyone is dealing with similar things, in their own way, if you bring up the conversation you realise you're not in it alone.”
If you or someone you know is in need help, call Lifeline on 131 114, visit www.lifeline.org.au/gethelp, or call Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636
Originally published as AFL footballers Shaun and Joe Atley have been working hard on their family farm in Corop